This is one of those topics that seems to come up on a regular basis in modern day conversation, and really, I suspect this is not so much a case of how kids should be taught that hacking is wrong, but how parents should be taught what hacking is. Or perhaps should be taught how to be parents, but more on this later.

The age we live in has computers in it. You might be surprised to hear this, given that you're (presumably) reading this on a computer right now. To the best of my knowledge, Helium doesn't offer a hardcopy service for anyone who wants the articles printed and mailed off to them. Computers are here, and we passed the stage where they're going to go away.

Naturally, in this new 'electronic frontier', there are many threats: Viruses, scammers, criminals, 'free' offers, deposed kings of Nigeria who are just desperate to send you money, if only you'll send them your bank details. It would be fair to say that the vast majority of potential threats online are targeted at the gullible. This is a standard practice in any kind of fraud, from banking to carnival sideshows. After all, targeting the savvy and crafty demographic never seems to pay off. It would also be fair to say that, on the whole, kids are pretty gullible. This isn't a slamming indictment on children's intelligence or the standards of education today; kids simply haven't been around long enough to gather the experience needed to deal with a lot of things. That, in a sense, is why they're still kids. Add to that that a lot of youngsters do still have an inherent faith in what an adult tells them, and you could argue that kids are certainly at risk in the online world.

But then, kids are at risk in the offline world, too. The problems they may encounter on the Internet are not really any different to those they might encounter in the real world.

To get back to the subject again: How to teach kids that hacking is wrong. How would one go about teaching them that, say, armed robbery or burglary is wrong? The answer's the same in both cases. By making sure they understand the difference between right and wrong in the first place. By teaching them moral standards, how to interact with other people, to show them that they should treat others as they'd like to be treated themselves. By showing an interest in what they're doing online, perhaps even joining in their interests.

Perhaps, god forbid, just sitting down and talking to them from time to time, instead of letting the PC do the babysitting.

Learn more about this author, Dave Simmons.
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